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Potty Training, Again

This week I decided it was time to potty train. As with all my other kids, the decision to potty train is a simple equation using age and one other limiting factor.

With Jack and Ben it was age and the fact that they were starting pre-school soon.

For the twins, it was the last possible second I could do it before summer hit and I had 3 or more kids with me. Jack’s last day of school is Friday and I don’t want him sitting around for a week of his precious days off while we run to the bathroom all day long.

Now that we’ve had so many kids, I often think it’s funny how many books are out there about stuff like potty training. I can not believe I PAID MONEY for a book teaching me how to potty train the first time, then actually tried to follow it.

There really is only one rule to potty training – stop putting your kids in diapers.

Everything else you decide is optional.

You can let them run naked or put them in underwear. I personally I prefer naked, it’s easier access, let time consuming, less laundry.

You can use little potties or stools and inserts on your big potty. I have both, the twins seemed to prefer the big potty better.

You can reward, punish or do neither. I use the method my friend Michelle taught me, bribery. One peanut M&M for a pee and three for a poop.

It’s takes about three days of pain to get results. Don’t give up, don’t second guess yourself, just push forward.

An upside down book is the least of the problems with this picture.

You know how I always say Sam gets everything first? First to walk, first to talk, more articulate, more athletic, yada yada.

Well, the thing with Sam is that he’s also more particular. More particular means that you already see things a certain way in your mind and when they aren’t the way you envisioned, they are wrong. As advanced and smart as Sam is, he isn’t very adaptable at times.

Aaron, on the other hand, is very easy going. He never fought me when I asked him to get on the toilet every 20 minutes and actually tried earnestly to potty. It took Aaron 2 days to get it. Without prompting he ran out of the bathroom on the second day yelling with glee, “I pooed on the potty!!!”

By the third day his diaper was dry in the morning.

Sam asked for a diaper and self constipated for about 4 days before finally going in the pot, and while he was doing it he kept asking when potty training was over so he could have a diaper to poop. Could he finish his poop in his diaper? He was surprisingly slow at learning this new skill. The stubbornness, however, was no surprise at all.

Now it’s Friday afternoon and I’m pleased to say – Jack is out for the summer, the twins are potty trained and we are ready to start the summer!